I have a white nationalist in one of my classes this semester. The guy always dressed in black, which I had thought was just a fashion statement or maybe to look slimmer because he's fat and flabby. He'd done well on his coursework and contributed to discussion, and there was nothing out of the ordinary. I talked about Canada in the American Revolution a couple weeks ago, and how loyalists fled there during and after the war. He mentioned something about "kissing Britain's ass." Then he approached me after class and started talking about how Canadians and Europeans apparently have no free speech or freedom. I addressed it head on and I'm a professional, so I don't think my pulse even quickened by one beat. He didn't bring it up again and the next week went by without incident. I thought it was just weird, and not anything more so I put it out of my mind.
Then in yesterday's class I was lecturing on 19th century nationalism. I think he asked why that nationalism doesn't exist anymore, and I said that nationalist groups and racist hate groups have become intertwined. Then he approached me again after class and started ranting that it's not racist to protect "white culture" from Muslims and to have segregation. He spewed a lot of conspiracy theories that tend to circulate on white nationalist hate sites. He was even convinced that woman who was murdered in Charlottesville had just died of a heart attack instead. One of my better students intervened because HE was getting fed up by the guy, then the wannabe skinhead got even worse. If he actually becomes disruptive I will initiate disciplinary action.
He's got a lot of potential, but right now he's a sexually frustrated, angry white boy who looks up to white nationalist groups because he is a failed individual.